Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

is the LP classic line discontinued?


mr.chEn

Recommended Posts

i dont think its about sales....the Classic was a plaintop Standard with shitty pickups. it needed to be discontinued....originally it was a higher end model than the Std, then Gibson dumbed it down by removing all of its cool features.

 

look at this way, Classics do not hold any resale. i have seen them for under $1000 on ebay. and you can always slap those gross ceramic pickups in your standard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the link also shows the standard as discontinued, and we know thats not the case but the standard has gone through an overhaul of features, thus the old vintage is gone to be replaced by the new Standard.

BTW no one seems to care that the BFG is also discontinued.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It does suck that the BFG was discontinued, they're great guitars. I'll bet that if that pickup configuration was on a different guitar more people would be interested. It seems like most of the guitars I like get discontinued, the BFG, the Ibanez SZ and AX are all dead models.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The ceramic pickups in my Classic gold top didn't last long either. I replaced them with Pearly Gates pups from Duncan. That said, the stock ceramics didn't sound bad - just too hot for me. I like a pickup to be able to clean up. If I had a bunch of LPs I'd want one with the Classic pups (496R/500T) just to have that sizzling, high-gain sound.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO Gibson has to many different version's of the Les Paul..

 

Yes this is probably true. But I must admit that I'm a sucker for something out of the ordinary. Nothing major though. For example my black cherry LP, which was only built for and sold at GC, has a unique pattern on the top. Also, I got my Premium Plus just before it was discontinued because I always wanted one. I don't know when or if it'll come back so I'm glad I did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think they put this "discontinued" word out to boost sales or thin out stock rooms. Who knows, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of some of these discontinued models.

 

I can recall a couple of examples

 

"Gothic" series guitars, recently brought back as "gothic II" and quickly disappeared

Les Paul "Smartwood" - Discontinued 2002 but recently available again and also quickly disappeared

SG Classic - Discontinued 2002 still available through Musicians Friend/Guitar Center

 

Hopefully they are cleaning house to make room for newer and better things to come and not just a repeat cycle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well now I understand why Gibson discontinue the Classic. Retail price has jump nearly $1,000. When I bought my guitar 7 year ago in 2001 it was $1,475.00 when Look back in 2005 it was $1,899.99 now the price tag is $2,439.00. sheesh!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

IMO Gibson has to many different version's of the Les Paul..

 

Flight959

 

++

 

I think they need to step out of the comfort zone and try some more models like the blueshawk, rd or corvus. NOT the holey v or reverse explorer, those were a bit boring. They really rely on the traditional models, which is great and works obviously, but I think trying something more daring than a les paul with a floyd rose, ooooooooo, or a deeper double cut, ahhhhhhhhhh, would be more exciting. maybe talk to Billy Gibbons and get some ideas and then tone them down for the regular folks.

 

I think they should open a contest to regular joes to design a new gibson guitar and the top 5 or so get limited production models, GOW, and the winner gets a regular production model. That would get them out of their little box of creativity. HINT HINT Mike!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

++

 

I think they should open a contest to regular joes to design a new gibson guitar and the top 5 or so get limited production models' date=' GOW, and the winner gets a regular production model. That would get them out of their little box of creativity. HINT HINT Mike!![/quote']

 

psh yea right, like gibson would want to pay royalties for every guitar they make to some guy who sent in shematics on a bar napkin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I kinda wonder why the Classic line has been struck but to my way of thinking, Gibson likes to pull certain models out of circulation and then bring them back in a few years time to see if they actually sell better than the previous go-round. As far as the Classic goes, I put one on layaway at Guitar Center since they knocked the price down to about $1700 so I'll go get it as soon as my tax refund comes. A lot of folks don't care for the pickups but for my style of playing and the sound it gets through a Marshall, I couldn't pass it up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

The Classic line has been discontinued, and will be replaced by a Guitar Center exclusive guitar. Which will be very similar to the Dark Fire. It will have the BFG pup config. Burstbucker pro in the bridge and a soap bar P90 in the neck. Glossy top with a satin neck, back and sides. They ended the classic line because it just got stale. They couldn't figure out anything new to do with it. It's sales were not increasing year to year. You may see this guitar again at some point. It would not surprise me. You can also order a Les Paul Studio with the BFG pickup config if you desire. I have one hanging in my shop right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing personal buds, but when I bought my Supreme maybe 15 months ago, I tested a couple Classics back in the shop and I was not very impressed at all. They seemed overpriced to me and were blown out of the water by Standards, Customs, and my Supreme.

 

The tone seemed muddy and flat. I couldn't get much attack on my leads....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...